Undergarment



Jun e 17, 1969 w DOZER 3,449,762

UNDERGARMENT Filed Sept. 29, 1967 INVENTOR. HERMA WEIDLE DOZIER.

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,449,762 UNDERGARMENT Herma WiedleDozier, 6609 Olive Blvd., St. Louis, Mo. 63130 Filed Sept. 29, 1967,Ser. No. 671,703 Int. Cl. A41b 9/08, 9/16; A41f 15/00 US. Cl. 273 5Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The disclosure sets forth a slipprovided with breast cups which are encircled with a relatively wideband of elastic material preferably in criss-cross construction, whichextends around the breast cup and to the side of the garment. Around thebreast cup there is an extra fullness which permits ready expansion ofthe garment depending upon the shape of the torso of the wearer belowthe breast cup portions and particularly around the front of the abdomenand around the waist.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present inventionrelates to womens undergarments and particularly slips.

Description of prior art BRIEF SUMMARY AND GENERAL STATEMENT OF THEINVENTION It is among the objects of the present invention to provide anovel slip having a certain degree of extensibility particularly aroundthe portion of the body below the breast cups and around the waist andabdomen, which nevertheless will have an attractive appearance and bereadily saleable.

Another object is to provide a novel slip construction which will notserve as a foundation garment but will nevertheless be effectivelyadjustable to varying shapes of torsos, even though of specific sizing.

Still further objects and advantages will appear in the more detaileddescription set forth below, it being understood, however, that thismore detailed description is given by Way of illustration andexplanation only and not by way of limitation, since various changestherein may be made by those skilled in the art without departing fromthe scope and spirit of the present invention.

In accomplishing the above objects it has been found most satisfactoryaccording to one embodiment of the present invention to provide arelatively wide band of elastic material across the top and bottom ofand encircling the breast cups, with an extra fullness or pleating orgathering being provided around the lower edge of the breast cupincreasing to a maximum below the middle of the breast cup anddecreasing to a minimum at the sides of the garment and at the middle ofthe garment.

This will permit ready adaptation of the garment to the same size ofupper body structure but will also accommodate varying sizings of theabdomen wall and lower torso portions.

The garment itself is desirably made of nylon tricot but the encirclingbands are made of an extensible lace material such as lycra.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS With the foregoing and other objectsin view, the invention consists of the novel construction, combinationand arrangement of parts as hereinafter more specifically described andillustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein is ,shown anembodiment of the invention, but it is to be understood that changes,variations and modifica tions can be resorted to which fall within thescope of the claims hereunto appended.

In the drawings wherein like reference characters denote correspondingparts throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of the garment showing it draped upona figure;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary back view showing the attachment of the bandalong the back of the garment;

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view showing the manner in which theelastic bands are attached.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. 1, there isshown a figure A having a head B, shoulders C and a torso D. The garmentwhich is of a slip construction as indicated at E is particularlydesigned to accommodate in one size various shapes and sizes of torsosindicated at D.

The garment itself has shoulder straps 20 with adjustable buckles 21 andbreast cups 22, a torso encircling portion 23 and a skirt portion 24.

The important feature of the present invention resides in the elasticlace bands 25 which extend around the top and bottom of the breast cups22 and cross at 26. The band 28 will extend entirely around theperiphery of the top of the garment E.

Both the breast cups 22 and the torso encircling portions 23 are heavilypleated or gathered at 29 and 30 midway of the breast cups with thepleating or gathering decreasing at 31 and 32 toward the side seams 33below and above the elastic bands 34. The upper portions 35 of theelastic bands rise to a peak at 36 where they are attached to the lowerfront ends 37 of the straps 20.

The elastic bands 34 are desirably superimposed upon the lower edge 50of the breast cup 22 as indicated by the stitching at 51 and upon theupper edge 52 of the torso encircling portion 23.

As indicated in FIG. 3, the lower edges of the breast cups 22 arealtogether separated from the upper edges 52 of the torso encirclingportion 23 to give an extra selfadjustability to the garment without anytension or confining effect being unduly communicated to the body of thewearer.

The garment, as shown in FIG. 1, will be attractive in appearance, willbe saleable as a normal slip, but at the same time will accommodatevairous torso sizes due to the extra fullness at the areas indicated at29 and 30. The skirt 24 may be of normal size.

In FIG. 2 is shown the back where the elastic is continued around theupper periphery of the garment to balance the upper portions 35 in thefront upper periphery of the garment.

As many changes could be made in the above slip construction, and manywidely different embodiments of this invention could be made, it isintended that all matter contained in the above description shall beinterpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of theinvention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, what isclaimed is:

1. A slip construction having upper separated breast cups and lowerdepending front and back body portions, criss-crossed elastic stripsmeeting at a point midway between the breast cups and midway between theupper and lower edges of said breast cups, said front body portion beingtransversally gathered for extra fullness in the front of the garmentbelow each breast cup and being held in said gathered position by saidelastic strips, said elastic strips extending over the top of one breastcup and below the bottom of the other breast cup, vertical side seamsconnecting said front and back body portions and also the outside edgesof said breast cups to said back depending body portion, each stripcommencing at the upper end of one side seam and extending firstupwardly and inwardly to a peak above one breast cup and then downwardlyto the meeting point midway of the breast cups then under the otherbreast cup and terminating below said breast cup at the other side seam.

2. The construction of claim 1, in which the lower edges of the breastcups are separated from the front body portion and connected thereto bythe lower portions of the elastic strips below the meeting point.

3. The construction of claim 1, in which the upper edge of the elasticstrip overlaps the lower edge of the breast cup and the lower edge ofsaid elastic strip overlaps the upper edge of the front body portion,said elastic strip being stitched respectively thereto.

4. The construction of claim 1, said strip consisting of an elastic laceconstruction.

5. The construction of claim 1, said breast cups having outwardly anddownwardly extending portions extending to said side seams and saidextensions being stitched at their top and bottom edges to said elasticstrips.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,685,087 8/1954 Williams 2-732,761,148 9/1956 Jenckes 273 3,149,342 9/1964 Cederholrn 2-73 3,176,6924/1965 Marino '273 XR 3,304,942 2/1967 Hall 2-73 XR 3,339,553 9/1967Ritter 273 XR FOREIGN PATENTS 895,732 11/1953 Ger-many.

H. HAMPTON HUNTER, Primary Examiner.

